Archive for the ‘Antisemitism’ Category

President Obama began his relationship with Israel by having President Benjamin Netanyahu walk out the back door of the White House past the trash. It got worse from there. At the AIPAC speech, President Obama told the Jewish audience that he saw an Israel with redrawn, and suicidally indefensible, lines. He liked the Israel pre-1967.

Finally, some Jews have had it.

In NY-9, a mostly conservative Jewish enclave in Brooklyn that voted reliably Democrat all the way back to the 1920s, just fell to the Republicans in a special election. Jews were eager to vote against the Democrats. And Obama.

Does this spell the demise of the left’s historical relationship with American Jews? Maybe. Please listen to Evan Pokroy go through the history of the American – Israel relationship and the changing landscape of Judaism and the conservative movement in America. I found his perspective fascinating.

A Turkish newspaper reports that police burst into an Istanbul synagogue during recent Sabbath services and demanded worshipers’ ID’s.

The Turkish Milliyet newspaper reported that the Muslim government in Turkey appears to be cracking down on non-Muslim minorities. The individual communities are not being permitted to have their own leaders; one person will be recognized by the government to represent all the minorities as one. As the Christian community outnumbers the Jewish one, it is expected that a Christian will serve as “Chief Rabbi.” This issue may have been resolved, however; see below.

In addition, Christian and Jewish children are being placed in separate non-Muslim public school classes. In Jewish schools, only Turkish citizens are allowed to be registered – preventing the son of a Jewish United States consul worker from studying in a Jewish school.

Finally, Turkish authorities raided the Hemdat Yisrael synagogue in Istanbul one Sabbath morning, the most crowded day of the week, and demanded that worshipers produce identification and proof of residence. Most worshipers did not have the required papers because of Sabbath restrictions, but were allowed to produce them at the conclusion of the Sabbath.

Is it just me or does it seem like there’s a rise in anti-semitism again?